Donate

Play Live Radio

Next Up:

0:00

0:00 0:00

Available On Air Stations

SC Public Radio's statewide network is experiencing intermittent outages and programming issues due to ongoing infrastructure upgrades. Our team is working to keep these disruptions to a minimum and to resolve issues that do arise. During broadcast outages, streaming on this site, the SCETV App, the NPR App, and smart speakers will remain unaffected.

California moves to ban artificial quartz as worker deaths mount

WBUR

Published October 15, 2026 at 12:03 PM EDT

California regulators meet on Thursday to consider a ban on the installation and cutting of man-made stone countertops. Many workers who cut the big slabs into pieces have fallen ill with a deadly lung disease, silicosis.

We speak with Jeff Rose, a stone-cutter and fabricator based in Nicholasville, Kentucky, who was diagnosed with silicosis

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.